#tren-de-aragua

#tren-de-aragua

The United States' campaign of extrajudicial military attacks against alleged drug trafficking speedboats continues unabated. On Friday, the Pentagon announced a new strike against one of these vessels in international waters in the Caribbean, in which six people were killed. It is the first such strike in the Caribbean since Washington confirmed two attacks in the Pacific on Wednesday, which also brought the U.S. military campaign against the cartels in the Americas to those waters.

Emojis that officials claimed were commonly used by Tren de Aragua and part of members' code language include trains, swords, ninjas, aliens and strawberries. Gang experts and immigration attorneys who reviewed the records said the claims were ludicrous, uneducated and baseless and raised concerns that authorities could cite emojis to erroneously label people as Tren de Aragua members allegations that can have dire consequences, including deportation.

The US attack on the Venezuelan boat on Tuesday came just a few days after news reports circulated about US warships advancing into Venezuelan waters. Last month, The New York Times reported that Trump had signed a secret directive instructing the Pentagon to use military force against certain Latin American drug cartels designated by the US as foreign terrorist organisations.

Under Joseph Humire's leadership, the Center for a Secure Free Society thinktank published the TdA Activity Monitor, which tracked supposed crimes by the Tren de Aragua gang in the US.

The U.S. government has placed a $3 million bounty on Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, linked to the Tren de Aragua gang and drug trafficking.

According to WaPo, the NIE says that although there are low-level contacts between Maduro government and Tren de Aragua, the gang does not operate at his direction.